Systems and Methods of Detecting and Demonstrating Hair Damage Via Evaluation of Protein Fragments

Abstract

Embodiments of a method for demonstrating type and/or source of hair damage comprises extracting protein fragments from a hair sample with an aqueous solution, testing the resulting protein fragments with the MALDI-MS test, and then either comparing the results between a damaged sample and an undamaged sample or comparing the results between a damaged sample and a list of known marker protein fragments to identify the type and/or source of the damage.

1 . A method of correlating hair damage type or source to marker protein fragments comprising:
 a) generating two identical hair samples; sample A and sample B;   b) applying a damaging composition or treatment to sample A; apply no damaging composition or treatment to sample B;   c) extracting the labile proteins using a suitable solvent samples from each of sample A and sample B;   d) analyzing the protein fragment samples from sample A and sample B with MALDI-MS;   e) comparing the MALDI-MS results from sample A and sample B;   f) identifying the marker protein fragments by identifying the unique modification patterns which exist in sample A that do not exist in sample B.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the MALDI-MS is performed after enzymatic digestion of proteins. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the MALDI-MS is performed without the enzymatic digestion of proteins. 
     
     
         4 . A method for demonstrating hair damage type or source, the method comprising:
 a) extracting the labile proteins using a suitable solvent from a hair sample;   b) analyzing the protein fragments sample with MALDI-MS; resulting in protein fragment results;   c) identifying the hair damage by comparing the protein fragments results to a list of marker protein fragments for particular damage.   
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein the MALDI-MS protein fragment results include a +28 and +71 modification to the N-terminus of the protein fragment having the structure: